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69 posts in the last 30 days

Did you know that you are capable of achieving success? I hope so, because it's true. Each day is a grind but you need to keep the end goal in mind. Stumped by a hard problem? Disappointed with a PT score? Find yourself wishing it were all over? Take a minute and step back. Picture your dream, your goals, and your future. Suddenly the obstacle that is standing in your way will start to look more like a learning opportunity than a barrier. You can motivate yourself by seeing the bigger picture, which will allow you to continue working hard. Motivation may be a fleeting feeling, but when you use it to spark determination and grit, the effects will be longer lasting.

Picture motivation as a match. You strike it, and it stays light for a short while. But what is the true purpose of a match? It is used to ignite a much larger fire. One that lasts longer and does not burn out as easily. In this sense motivation is useful because it can ignite your passion, the real source of success.

https://i.imgur.com/8imJNrB.gif

When you take that moment to step back from a challenge, it allows you to gain perspective. A small break allows the feelings of anger, frustration and agitation to subside. Once those strong emotions have passed, you can come back at your issue with a level head. Then you can ask yourself, what went wrong. You can see each hurtle as a learning opportunity.

So when you miss a problem on the LSAT - step back and think about your goals. Then realize that the problem you missed is now an opportunity to grow. It's a chance to address an issue in your understanding of the test. It's in our weaknesses and short comings that improvement can be made. So we should celebrate our failures, because they will give us the ultimate gift, a chance to improve. Use the things that trip you up as a tool to motivate your passions. If you start to approach the LSAT in this way, you'll start to enjoy the test. You will constantly be moving forward and patching up holes in your understanding.

Don't let negative emotions dominate you! Remember, you are doing this for a reason. You have dreams and goals. Will you let one bad PT or one hard problem stop you?

You got this.

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Guys! I just want to celebrate a bit. I'm still not where I ultimately want to be yet, but I can really tell that I'm on the road to getting there. Last night I got my first 180 BR and tied my PT score record (167). But I'm happier about the fact that I can really see the progress in my last several PTs. (Also, the 7sage analytics are almost worth the price of the course itself!) After the CC, I had improved for the most part but was wildly inconsistent. Post-CC I was scoring any where between 156 and 167 and was all over the map. Now my last 6 PTs are: 164, 165, 164, 166, 166, 167. Both the consistency and that slow but sure upward trajectory are so encouraging.

I think I'm not going to be quite where I want by December 2, but I'm feeling positive that I can even probably improve a bit before then. I'm also registered for February and think I might be closer to my goal score by then.

Dance party time? I think yes.

https://media.giphy.com/media/dIZoOighpAS7C/giphy.gif

UPDATE:

Since this post, I added a couple more 167 PTs and a 169. Official score in December: 168.

The upward trend continued as did consistency, and it really came through. Started at a 155 diagnostic, so +13 overall. I’m ecstatic with the score. I’m registered for February and will probably still sit for that to see if I can inch up at all and use it for scholarship negotiations.

But a huuuuuge thank you is owed to @"J.Y. Ping", @"Dillon A. Wright", and everyone on the boards for encouragement! I’m now more excited than ever to get apps in.

Happy holidays to all!

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I've hit a plateau in the high 160s where it seems I keep falling for dumb answer choices and when I review I don't have a hard time noticing what I did wrong. Should I make notes of things I fall for and try to correct that now? In LR the closest thing to a pattern is which of the following most weakens or which of the following is a flaw except. I'm going to review that, but honestly it's not like I miss many of those in the section or very often. I tend to get the questions wrong more for misreading the question or stimulus rather than not understanding the flaw, especially later in the test where I feel the time encroach on me. If I could correct this in the next two weeks I would be in a pretty decent position to take the December test.

In RC I notice a lot of pacing issues where I will finish but clearly make mistakes or make less mistakes but feel very pressured because I spent too much time verifying my answer choices. I don't know if slowing down helps. It doesn't seem to make much of a change and I'm not sure what to do to correct that either. I'm not even sure what BR is really like for this section. I started off doing the best here. I just take my sweet time during BR to find the answer in the text, and it isn't exactly helping me get less wrong in the next test as I usually have only circled about 2 or 3 out of the potential six I get wrong in RC. My accuracy isn't bad to overthrown my whole system either. I've changed what I do a lot on this section back and forth and I'm not sure any change is improving the consistency. I'm kind of at a loss of how you progress here into the 170s when understanding isn't your main issue. When I took the test officially once I actually did better in RC than before implementing a system although I don't attribute the extra miss or so to the system but rather to the lucky passages I got on the test and don't want to have to rely on luck on my next one. I think it is more accurate than it was before and I feel more confident going about it this way but I've improved about zero in RC. The only pattern is that humanities passages have the worst scores for me. Usually -3 in a Art history passage and -0 to -1 in Law or Science. Should I drill just a bunch of humanity passages I find and train myself to maintain focus(I find them very dull)? I'm not sure that's the way and that's exactly what is so nerve wracking about being stuck here and hoping I can take the Dec. test, not knowing how to improve.

TLDR; I don't know how to improve after this point where I'm sure my foundation and basics are solid. I tend to fall for a lot of answers or to fail to maintain focus on certain passages. Not knowing how to proceed on fixing these issues is anxiety inducing.

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Hey guys! I was granted accommodations last week and I was curious if I would be administered the same version of the test. As in, would all the sections be the same as nonaccomadated test takers?

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Hi everyone,

I have been at the stage where I have consistently been going -1 to -3 on untimed LR and RC for a while. Now, I have decided to start transitioning myself into timing; however, I am not sure what the best approach is from here.

I am wondering about what the general consensus is regarding PTs vs. timed individual sections. Should you be doing more of the latter and less of the former? I am considering making a schedule of doing mostly timed individual sections (i.e., 1 LR and 1 RC one day and 1 LR and 1 LG another day) throughout the week with BR? And then, at the end of the week doing a PT? I have read on this forum and several others that constantly taking PTs is not the best way to improve your score; PTs are much better for building stamina. Taking many individual timed sections and thoroughly reviewing them, on the other hand, is much better. Lastly, I think it is worth mentioning that I am fortunate enough to have a lot of time to dedicate to studying.

What are your thoughts? Thank you so much!

0

Hey everyone,

I just finished my final round of edits for my personal statement. I got edits from one particular professor who I trust very much, and he only listed one change.

I used the word "Cognizant" in my paper. As in, "Cognizant of this fact, I decided to do X."

My professor told me to simplify the word "Cognizant," but I honestly don't think it is a complicated word. Additionally, only 1 other person told me it was too complicated of a word (out of ~16 people who read my PS).

What do y'all think? I could easily just replace "Cognizant of this fact" with "Conscious of this fact."

0

Hey guys,

I write the December LSAT so i am doing as many PTs as i can now until then. I had the beginner course bought, and i did the PTs until 44, and today i did PT 60. I want to do more recent tests before the LSAT, but would you recommend me upgrading for 170 and do just the rest of the PTs up to 58 (I think that comes with the upgrade), or doing more recent ones and buying them separately? (since i obviously wont have time to do all the PTs if i upgrade by paying 370).

I just want an opinion on whether its fine for me to continue doing older PTs, or if i should just do the new ones instead.

0

Anyone notice a difference in difficulty between PT 70 and PT 71? I scored 6 points higher on PT 70 than 71. I know no test is objectively harder then than the other but man 71 kicked my ass.

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For those with families and jobs, when do you take the practice tests? I'm finding it hard to find time to take the full test without interruption. I'm planning on taking the February '18 test, and I have yet to take a full test.

0

Does anyone have any tips for increasing your score BESIDES doing BR and fool proofing logic games? I haven't been able to change my score at all and it's starting to get frustrating, considering the fact that the test is in about two/three weeks.

I wrote out flashcards and I plan on trying to at least memorize/recognize question stems, but otherwise I've hit a wall. What has worked for you for LR, RC, and LG? Trying to brainstorm a new game plan for the next few weeks. Help!

0

For those of you PTing at 165+, how many PTs are you planning on taking before your first (or only) exam? I have Ultimate+, so I believe I have access to 82 old exams. That seems like a crazy amount to do, but I will totally do it if that will be significantly more helpful than 50-60ish.

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Hey 7Sage fam,

I had a quick question regarding a Diversity Statement. So as a little background, I had a really hard time deciding between writing my personal statement on a specific moment that made me consider doing something other than corporate law or a more general essay about my determination to practice law and the steps that I took to get there effectively. I ultimately decided on the former.

However, a big part of the 2nd essay was that I chose my undergraduate school based on my law school aspirations (cheaper in-state school as opposed to expensive out of state). I was also able to complete my undergrad in 2 years in order to get to an education in law earlier.

With that being the case, I will only be 19 years old when I go to apply for law school this cycle. Is this a diverse enough characteristic to write a personal statement about? I know that the average age is about 7 years older and I thought this could be an interesting topic to write about. Do you think it's worth it or would it come across as opportunistic?

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For those who have done many PTs: did your anxiousness and focusing more on time than the actual test get better as you did more tests?

I would assume that when one first starts PTing, he or she will likely be so eager to rush through the test by keeping time in their head while sacrificing accuracy? What are your thoughts?

0

Howdy folks,

Anyone studying for the December test?

These forums can be encouraging but at the same time disheartening. Supposedly only 2% of people score a 170+ but it seems like everyone on here is angry if they don't get a 174. There's stories on here of people score a 170 on their first exam... I've been studying almost full time for a little over a month, and managed to get my first 163 two weeks ago, and scored 2 more since, but haven't been able to improve AT ALL since. I changed from old tests to new tests (prep test 69 just finished) in preparation for December, but I'm not sure if I'm going to take it. I was getting ROCKED in the old lsat (early/mid 1990's) logic games, so I worked really hard on those and now I only get -4 to -6 wrong on those, but now my logic reasoning has dropped from a -3/-5 to about a -6ish. Does this seem to be the trend on the newer tests v.s. the older ones?

I have until November 18th I guess to decide if I'm going to write or wait until February. I've applied to Western and University of Toronto here up north, and then I will apply to UBC as well. I know I need a 165 at LEAST even for just Western and UBC, especially since my undergrad GPA was only a 3.48. I never thought I would apply for postgraduate school. If I can't get a 170, U of T is out of the question, and it might be anyways even if I got a 180.

Anyways, what do you guys think, is 2.5 weeks going to get me to a 170? hahah I doubt it. If I apply in February, I probably need to score even higher since it's a rolling admission and that's close to the end. Anyone have thoughts? Advice? I'm feeling drained.

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Over my last 5 tests I have averaged a 156.6. With my high being a 160. My goal is a 167. I took the LSAT in September with a 155 and I've signed up for the December LSAT. I feel like I have been putting in a lot of hours, and without seeing the returns I feel like I should be getting. I am a splitter (hopefully). I have a GPA of 3.25. My letters of recommendation are pretty strong. I've done all the CC. Should I take the February LSAT instead? Should I sign up for an in person class? It feels like I am at the edge of breaking my score and getting where I want to be, but I've also felt like that since before the September LSAT. My huge worry is that I have not been studying for the LSAT in the most efficient way possible.

0

Hey, I have not been able to access my notes for a couple days now. Originally, I thought it was just my computer, but then I went to the library and tried getting in and I had the same error. It just says that part of the 7sage is down, which is weird because I'm able to access every other section on the site.

Anybody else having issues? By the way, I tried opening it in an incognito window and I also restarted my computer and the one at the Library but still had the same result

@"Dillon A. Wright"

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Quick study break thought... I wonder ... should I ever get the chance to meet JY in person, maybe something like a 7Sage Ashram retreat (which probably operates more like a happy hour), if JY would speak to us at 1.2x. I find 1.44x quite unnatural, but also I'm quite impatient at 1.0x speed for the wisdom as well.

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